Brainstorming :)

[JudyN]

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I'm just back from a weekend away celebrating an aunt's 80th at a knees-up attended by around 50 relations, most of whom I hadn't seen for years - and have spent an awful lot of time chasing my granddaughter around - so am a bit knackered. But a few random thoughts:

I think the white background is best, for the reasons arealhuman gives.

I don't like the versions with, e.g. 'Check do a quick check...' because it doesn't make sense grammatically. I would prefer 'Check: Do a quick check...'. Or maybe 'Check to see who's...' (though this approach won't work for all of the points).

I see your point about 'presume' or 'assume', but prefer 'assume'. The reason for this is that although, yes, the dog being on lead is evidence, we don't want want people to be weighing up the probabilities and deciding accordingly, we want them to simply keep their dog on lead regardless. Often, there may be good reasons to think that it is OK to let their dog approach, but we don't want them to make that decision - we just want a simple 'Dog on lead' = 'don't let your dog approach', without taking any other factors into account (apart from, say, being told by the other person that it's OK to let their dog say hello). Does that make sense?

I don't really like the bit about tail wags - it makes what is a straightforward sentence very disjointed. Also, the semi-colon after the 'caution' should be the comma. I suggest:

'A wagging tail does not always mean a dog wants to meet another dog. Depending on the wag, it can mean high alert or arousal, aggression or caution!'

 

[JudyN]

I thought of a good example for the presume/assume thing...

'That on-lead lab is wearing a snazzy yellow bandana but a couple of other dogs have run up to it and both dog and owner are relaxed, polite and friendly. However, there's a family nearby having a picnic and it keeps sniffing in their direction. I presume from that that it would be fine with my dog approaching and the owner just doesn't want it raiding the picnic... But because it's on lead I must assume that I should not let my dog approach.'

Oh, and 'worded vest' doesn't sound right. Printed vest?

 

[arealhuman]

I bet you regret asking now @Flobo with all our comments!

 

[Flobo]

No it's fine, I did ask for honest feedback and appreciate the help. I find communicating with dogs or other animals far easier, people I struggle a bit with and being articulate is not my forte!

'A wagging tail does not always mean a dog wants to meet another dog. Depending on the wag, it can mean high alert or arousal, aggression or caution!'

Yes that does make more sense, do you think I should change the word 'caution' to 'fear'?

Back to the drawing board as soon as I get my laptop back...

 

[Hemlock]

I'd stay stick with "caution" as that may or may not develop into outright fear. But I have a quiver in my brain that indicates there's a better word to use. Damned if I can think of it just now, though. "Uncertainty" maybe?

 

[JudyN]

Anxiety?

 

[Hemlock]

YESSSS! Brilliant.

 

[Flobo]

Fab! So, 'high alert or arousal, aggression or anxiety'
Thank you too @Hemlock
Just going to do a bit of adjusting on it now!

 

[Flobo]

A few more tweeks done!
The colour is just a trial as I really don't want to just do white with black writing, as I'd like it to stand out a bit...
So, other than the colour, which is a work in progress, any final adjustments, tinkering needed??
Still a bit unsure of the tail wag bit, I like the wording and want to highlight bits but maybe I need to turn it around so the highlighted bit is altogether, 'A wagging tail can mean...' then say it does not always mean a dog wants to...' something like that.. or just leave it as it is, maybe I'm way over thinking this all now!!

 

[JudyN]

A few suggestions:

1) Pedantic one this - in 'other dogs, people, bicycles, or joggers', strictly you should drop the comma after 'bicycles', for consistency with, e.g., 'manage, train and work' (where you don't have one before the 'and'). No one apart from annoying people like me would notice or care though.

2) Drop the 'Do' in 'Do learn' (and capitalise 'learn').

3) When you say 'Dog on lead, wearing a printed vest/bandana...', presumably you mean 'Dog on lead, or wearing a printed vest/bandana...'? It could be read to mean it's OK to let your dog go up to another that's on lead if it's not wearing any of the things you mention.

4) I like the fact that you lead in with 'A wagging tail does not always mean...' as so many people seem to think it means the dog is feeling friendly. Actually, I wonder if it would be better as (I'm playing with styles here too) 'A wagging tail does not always mean that the dog is feeling friendly. Depending on the wag, it can mean high alert, arousal, aggression or anxiety!'

5) Just noticed this one - maybe change 'By all of us taking...we can help more dogs' to 'By taking...we can all help'.

Note (a) I've removed the colour on the first bit, which looks a little untidy to me, (b) bolded the blue words to give them more emphasis, (c) not bolded or coloured 'can mean' (doesn't look right to me), and (d) changed the 'or' after 'high alert' to a comma.

The print is a bit small, at least for my eyes, but I like the idea of it being postcard sized. Are you still thinking of making it double-sided? This will of course change the layout, so you'd have to play around with both sides.

 

[arealhuman]

All I'd add is that if you're set on having a colour background, print on paper that colour otherwise you'll go through ink like there's no tomorrow!

This is a great initiative, I hope you're proud of what you've put together In my limited experience, most people are generally sensible when out and about with their dogs, even if they're not experts in dog behaviour like me, although there's always exceptions to this with a few plonkers about.

 

[Flobo]

Here's the final product! I sent it off to the printers yesterday, so no going back or altering now! I did decide to go for a postcard type, I felt, even though it would be small, people would maybe hang on to it more so than a paper flyer...
Thank you everyone for all your input, I very much appreciated it
Our area has a huge dog population and it is still increasing so hopefully this will at least make a few people think...

The stall is next month, 25th June, so I will let you know how it all went. To cover my costs, hopefully, I'm also selling jewellery. I make pendants and rings from the skin shed by my snake and a friends. Not everyone's cup of tea but they do look cool!

 

[arealhuman]

Nice, a great end result. I'm sure it will be a success! I thought making jewellery out of shed snake's skin was unusual, but using your friend's skin too came as a bit of a shock!

 

[Tinytom]

Brilliant @Flobo.....
Trouble is the people that need to read this great information are too ignorant to do so ...
Have you got any pics of your jewellery...I know a few people who would be interested in snakes skin....human skin maybe not so (only joking

 

[JudyN]

Well done - you've put so much work into this I'm not even looking at it, because I know what I'm like... If I did spot anything it would niggle me!

 

[Flobo]

thank you all!
I'll get some pics up later of the jewellery
Weirdly some people do make stuff out of tattooed human skin... not me I might add!

 

[Hemlock]

Nice work - well done!

 

[RGC]

Well done - you've put so much work into this I'm not even looking at it, because I know what I'm like... If I did spot anything it would niggle me!

I don't understand why the term 'pedant' is used pejoratively. The striving for correct English usage is to be approved. Similarly I've heard the expression 'N.I.M.B.Y' cast as an expression of scorn at a family who expressed concern at woodland which had hitherto been protected but had come within the sights of developers. Long live the well read and those that appreciate the language. Long live The Apostrophe Protection Society.....and long live those who can take constructive criticism in the spirit in which it is given. Let's get shot of the expression 'l.o.l' which assumes that there's a hint of wit or amusement in one's phrase - wait for others to be amused before assuming that what you have written is of jocular merit. Thanks for reading the tirade. Will now push off to Cornwall.

 

[JudyN]

I don't understand why the term 'pedant' is used pejoratively.

Ah, but don't overlook that many of the 'rules' people think they know are unfounded. Split infinitives, the use of 'less' or 'fewer', how to use 'myriad' in a sentence, & the use of 'ize' or 'ise' endings spring to mind. Plus language rules are to an extent supposed to be descriptive, not prescriptive, so it's not always easy to decide what is actually wrong.

I recently edited a contributed book written by a number of people on the autism spectrum. One chapter was written by someone who was describing his love of expressing himself in writing. Towards the end of the chapter he wrote that it's the feel of the words and sentences that he enjoys, and he has to retain that joy even if it means the grammar Y syntax aren't correct. Damn, I thought, as I went back to the chapter to start again. LOL (sorry, couldn't resist!).

 

[Hemlock]

Fellow pedant here. There's a huge difference between 'less' and 'fewer', for instance. It's a courtesy to everyone to write in a way that's easy to understand. Idiomatic spoken English between people who share the same dialect is not discourteous because everyone there understands, but we should all be able to use correct English if necessary.